2012 China League One

The 2012 China League One was the ninth season of the China League One, the second tier of the Chinese football league pyramid, since its establishment. It began on March 17, 2012 and ended on October 28, 2012.^[1] The size of the league has been expanded from 14 to 16 teams this season.

China League One

Season	2012
Champions	Shanghai East Asia
Promoted	Shanghai East Asia Wuhan Zall
Relegated	Beijing Baxy Hohhot Dongjin
Matches played	240
Goals scored	617 (2.57 per match)
Top goalscorer	Babacar Gueye (23 Goals)
Biggest home win	Harbin Songbei Yiteng 4–0 Beijing Baxy (May 26th, 2012) Hohhot Dongjin 4–0 Guangdong Sunray Cave (Jul. 21st, 2012) Harbin Songbei Yiteng 5–1 Beijing BIT (Jul. 28th, 2012) Yanbian Changbai Tiger 4–0 Hohhot Dongjin (Aug. 18th, 2012) Shenzhen Ruby 4–0 Yanbian Changbai Tiger (Oct. 20th, 2012) Chongqing F.C. 4–0 Chengdu Blades (Oct. 28th, 2012) (4 goals)
Biggest away win	Guangdong Sunray Cave 1–5 Fujian Smart Hero (Aug. 25th, 2012) Yanbian Changbai Tiger 1–5 Harbin Yiteng (Sept. 1st, 2012) Beijing BIT 0–4 Beijing Baxy (Oct. 6th, 2012) (4 goals)
Highest scoring	Shenzhen Ruby 5–3 Chongqing Lifan (Sept. 22nd, 2012) (8 goals)
Longest winning run	Shanghai East Asia (6 matches)
Longest unbeaten run	Chongqing Lifan (8 matches)
Longest winless run	Hohhot Dongjin (11 matches)
Longest losing run	Hunan Billows (8 matches)
Highest attendance	22,316 Hunan Billows 2–1 Shanghai East Asia (Aug. 4th, 2012)
Lowest attendance	321 Beijing Baxy 0–3 Hunan Billows (Jul. 28th, 2012)
Average attendance	3,996
← 2011 2013 →

Team changes

Promotion and relegation

Dalian Aerbin as the champion of 2011 season and Guangzhou R&F as runner-up had promoted to the 2012 Chinese Super League. They were replaced by Chengdu Blades and Shenzhen Ruby, who had relegated from the 2011 Chinese Super League after finishing the season in the bottom two places of the table.

Guizhou Zhicheng had relegated to the 2012 China League Two after finishing the 2011 season in last place and lost play-off match against 2011 China League Two 3rd-placed team Fujian Smart Hero. Due to the league's expansion, three teams were admitted into the 2012 China League One. These were the two 2011 League Two promotion final winners, Harbin Songbei Yiteng, Chongqing F.C., and the play-off winner, Fujian Smart Hero.

Name changes

Shenyang Dongjin moved to the city of Hohhot and changed their name to Hohhot Dongjin in February 2012.^[2]

Clubs

Stadiums and Locations

Chongqing Lifan
Chongqing F.C.

Guangdong Sunray Cave

Shenyang Shenbei

Hohhot Dongjin

Chengdu Blades

Shanghai East Asia

Yanbian Changbai Tiger

B.I.T
Beijing Baxy

Shenzhen Ruby

Hunan Billows

Wuhan Zall

Tianjin Songjiang

Fujian Smart Hero

Harbin Songbei Yiteng

Location of teams in 2012 China League One^[3]

Club	Head Coach	City	Stadium	Capacity	2011 season
Beijing BIT	Bian Lijun	Beijing	BIT Eastern Athletic Field	5,000	13th
Beijing Baxy	Cao Xiandong Wang Tao	Beijing	Shijingshan Stadium	20,000	11th
Chengdu Tiancheng R	Wang Baoshan	Chengdu (playing in Shuangliu)	Shuangliu Sports Centre	26,000	CSL, 15th
Chongqing F.C. P	Zhao Changhong	Chongqing	Chongqing Olympic Sports Center	58,680	CL2, 2nd
Chongqing Lifan	Tang Yaodong	Chongqing	Fuling Stadium	22,000	8th
Fujian Smart Hero P	Xu Hui	Xiamen (playing in Fuzhou and Jinjiang)	Fuzhou Stadium Jinjiang Sports Center Stadium (after Round 27)	23,000 15,000	CL2, 3rd
Guangdong Sunray Cave	José Ricardo Rambo	Guangzhou	Guangdong Provincial People's Stadium Guangdong Olympic Stadium (Round 29 & 30)	25,000 80,012	3rd
Harbin Songbei Yiteng P	Duan Xin	Harbin	Harbin International Conference Exhibition and Sports Center Harbin Institute of Technology Stadium (Round 21)	50,000 20,000	CL2, 1st
Hohhot Dongjin	Yang Yumin (caretaker)	Hohhot	Hohhot City Stadium	60,000	5th
Hunan Billows	Zhang Xu	Changsha	CSUFT East-Garden Stadium Yiyang Olympic Sports Park Stadium (after Round 19)	18,000 30,000	4th
Shanghai East Asia	Jiang Bingyao	Shanghai	Shanghai Stadium Jinshan Football Stadium (Round 26)	65,000 30,000	9th
Shenyang Shenbei	Liu Zhicai	Shenyang	Shenyang Sport University Stadium	12,000	6th
Shenzhen Ruby R	Philippe Troussier	Shenzhen	Bao'an Stadium	40,000	CSL, 16th
Tianjin Songjiang	Hao Haitao	Tianjin	Tianjin Tuanbo Football Stadium	30,320	12th
Wuhan Zall	Zheng Xiong	Wuhan	Xinhua Road Sports Center	32,137	7th
Yanbian Changbai Tiger	Cho Keung-yeon	Yanji (playing in Longjing)	Hailanjiang Stadium	32,000	10th

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Hohhot Dongjin	Chen Bo (caretaker)	---	Pre-season	N/A	Chen Bo	Pre-season[4]
Chongqing Lifan	Liu Jingbiao	Sacked	Pre-season[5]	N/A	Lawrie McKinna	Pre-season[5]
Shenyang Shenbei	Liu Zhicai	Sacked	Pre-season	N/A	Arie Haan	Pre-season[6]
Guangdong Sunray Cave	Cao Yang	Sacked	Pre-season	N/A	Dragan Kokotović	Pre-season[7]
Beijing Baxy	Cao Xiandong	Resigned	Pre-season	N/A	Cui Enlang	Pre-season
Guangdong Sunray Cave	Dragan Kokotović	Sacked	27 March 2012	6th	Cao Yang (caretaker)	27 March 2012[8]
Chongqing Lifan	Lawrie McKinna	Sacked	14 April 2012[9]	16th	Tang Yaodong	19 April 2012[10]
Wuhan Zall	Jose Carlos de Oliveira	Sacked	24 April 2012[11]	8th	Zheng Xiong (caretaker)	24 April 2012[11]
Shenyang Shenbei	Arie Haan	Resigned	1 May 2012[12]	14th	Li Zheng (caretaker)	1 May 2012[12]
Yanbian Changbai Tiger	Zheng Xianglong	Sacked	20 May 2012[13]	14th	Jin Guangzhu (caretaker)	20 May 2012[13]
Hohhot Dongjin	Chen Bo	Sacked	22 May 2012[14]	16th	Yang Yumin (caretaker)	22 May 2012[14]
Yanbian Changbai Tiger	Jin Guangzhu (caretaker)	---	1 June 2012	13th	Cho Keung-yeon	1 June 2012[15]
Wuhan Zall	Zheng Xiong (caretaker)	---	14 June 2012	4th	Zheng Xiong	14 June 2012[16]
Shenyang Shenbei	Li Zheng (caretaker)	Resigned	18 June 2012[17]	16th	Huang Yong (caretaker)	18 June 2012[17]
Beijing Baxy	Cui Enlang	Sacked	3 July 2012[18]	14th	Gai Zengjun (caretaker)	3 July 2012[18]
Chongqing F.C.	Zhao Faqing	Resigned	5 July 2012[19]	11th	Zhao Changhong	5 July 2012[19]
Shenyang Shenbei	Huang Yong (caretaker)	Resigned	10 July 2012[20]	15th	Liu Zhicai	10 July 2012[20]
Chengdu Tiancheng	Niu Hongli	Resigned	24 July 2012[21]	12th	Wang Baoshan	24 July 2012[21]
Guangdong Sunray Cave	Cao Yang (caretaker)	Resigned	28 July 2012[22]	12th	José Ricardo Rambo	29 July 2012
Beijing Baxy	Gai Zengjun (caretaker)	Resigned	3 August 2012[23]	16th	Cao Xiandong Wang Tao	3 August 2012[23]
Guangdong Sunray Cave	José Ricardo Rambo	As assistant coach	30 August 2012	12th	Cao Yang (caretaker)	30 August 2012[24]

Foreign players

Restricting the number of foreign players strictly to four per CL1 team.^[25] A team could use three foreign players on the field each game. Players came from Hong Kong, Macau and Chinese Taipei were deemed as native players in CSL.

• Foreign players who left their clubs after first half of the season.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Former Players*
Beijing BIT	Lee In-shik	Matías Alonso	Walter Guglielmone	Martín Rodríguez	Vicent Rodrigue
Beijing Baxy	Júnior Paulista	Daniel Quaye	Momar N'Diaye	Shin Eun-seok	Saša Mus
Chengdu Tiancheng	Johnson Macaba	João Paulo	Valdo	William	Ygor de Souza
Chongqing F.C.	Rafael Pérez	Walter Julián Martínez	Chris Killen
Chongqing Lifan	Brendon Šantalab	Guto	Nei	Nelson Cabrera
Fujian Smart Hero	Johnny Woodly	Vlado Jeknić	Sylvano Comvalius	Park Jung-soo
Guangdong Sunray Cave	Dori	Jean Narde	Reinaldo	Mahama Awal	Josip Milardović
Harbin Songbei Yiteng	Million Butshiire[26]	Adam Hughes	Rodrigo	Ricardo Steer	Oleksandr Krutskevich
Hohhot Dongjin	Luciano Olguín	Yovanny Arrechea	Lee Kil-hoon	Song Tae-lim
Hunan Billows	Astor Henríquez	Emil Martínez	Erick Norales	Claudio Cardozo
Shanghai East Asia	Bruno Camacho	Luis Carlos Cabezas	Ransford Addo	Samir Arzú	Didier Njewel
Shenyang Shenbei	José Duarte	Dario Dabac	Vladimir Vujović		Mustapha Allaoui
Shenzhen Ruby	Leandro Guaita	Benjamin Gavanon	Takashi Rakuyama	Babacar Gueye	Rony Flores
Tianjin Songjiang	Anderson	Taavi Rähn	Aleksander Rodić	Lee Se-in
Wuhan Zall	Adiel	Vicente	Carlos Ceballos	Julio Gutiérrez	César Valoyes
Yanbian Changbai Tiger	Ivan Božić	Stipe Lapić	Soumaila Coulibaly	Hong Jin-sub	Ronaille Calheira

Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan players (doesn't count on the foreign player slot)

Club	Player 1	Player 2
Beijing Baxy	Chen Hao-wei
Guangdong Sunray Cave	Chan Siu Ki	Leung Chun Pong
Shenzhen Ruby	Chen Po-liang

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Shanghai East Asia (P, C)	30	17	8	5	47	25	+22	59	Promotion to Chinese Super League
2	Wuhan Zall (P)	30	16	6	8	40	29	+11	54
3	Fujian Smart Hero	30	12	10	8	41	32	+9	46
4	Harbin Songbei Yiteng	30	13	6	11	53	43	+10	45[a]
5	Chongqing Lifan	30	12	9	9	50	45	+5	45[a]
6	Tianjin Songjiang	30	12	9	9	27	24	+3	45[a]
7	Shenzhen Ruby	30	12	6	12	46	41	+5	42
8	Chongqing F.C.	30	11	8	11	40	37	+3	41[b]
9	Chengdu Tiancheng	30	11	8	11	33	40	−7	41[b]
10	Guangdong Sunray Cave	30	10	8	12	41	46	−5	38[c]
11	Hunan Billows	30	10	8	12	33	37	−4	38[c]
12	Shenyang Shenbei	30	9	11	10	36	38	−2	38[c]
13	Yanbian Changbai Tiger	30	10	4	16	39	51	−12	34
14	Beijing BIT	30	8	8	14	27	41	−14	32
15	Beijing Baxy	30	8	7	15	34	46	−12	31
16	Hohhot Dongjin (R)	30	5	12	13	30	42	−12	27	Relegation to China League Two

Updated to match(es) played on October 28, 2012. Source: CL1 website on sohu.com (in Chinese)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) goals scored; 7) disciplinary points (1 point for each yellow card, 3 points for each red card). Head-to-Head: Only used at the end of the season when two or more teams need the head-to-head rules to break a tie.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Harbin Songbei Yiteng 10 pts; Chongqing Lifan 3 pts; Tianjin Songjiang 2 pts
2. Chongqing F.C. 4–0 Chengdu Tiancheng; Chengdu Tiancheng 2–1 Chongqing F.C.
3. Guangdong Sunray Cave 7 pts, GD: +3; Hunan Billows 7 pts, GD: 0; Shenyang Shenbei 2 pts

Positions by round

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Shanghai East Asia	1	2	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Wuhan Zall	9	11	10	10	8	8	6	4	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	2	3	5	4	5	5	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Fujian Smart Hero	7	5	9	9	6	7	7	6	8	9	12	12	12	12	12	10	10	9	9	11	10	10	8	7	7	6	6	4	5	3
Harbin Songbei Yiteng	9	11	12	12	10	10	9	11	10	10	8	10	7	6	5	6	6	7	6	6	6	6	6	6	4	5	5	3	4	4
Chongqing Lifan	15	14	16	15	16	16	14	15	14	12	10	8	6	7	6	5	5	5	5	3	5	4	2	3	3	3	3	5	3	5
Tianjin Songjiang	11	10	7	8	11	11	10	8	3	3	2	2	3	3	3	3	2	3	4	4	3	2	4	5	6	4	4	6	6	6
Shenzhen Ruby	3	8	11	7	4	3	4	3	6	6	7	5	5	5	7	7	8	6	8	7	7	7	7	8	10	9	9	10	8	7
Chongqing F.C.	15	9	4	6	5	6	8	7	7	7	6	7	8	9	11	8	7	8	7	8	8	9	10	10	9	10	10	9	9	8
Chengdu Tiancheng	3	3	2	3	2	2	3	5	5	5	5	6	9	10	8	9	9	11	10	10	9	11	9	9	8	8	7	7	7	9
Guangdong Sunray Cave	3	6	5	4	7	4	5	9	11	11	9	9	11	8	9	11	12	12	12	9	12	12	12	13	13	13	13	12	11	10
Hunan Billows	3	1	1	2	3	5	2	2	4	4	3	3	2	2	2	2	3	4	2	2	2	3	3	4	5	7	8	8	10	11
Shenyang Shenbei	11	16	12	13	14	14	15	14	15	13	14	15	16	15	15	15	15	14	14	13	14	13	15	14	14	14	14	13	12	12
Yanbian Changbai Tiger	7	14	15	16	13	13	12	12	12	14	13	13	13	13	13	13	11	10	11	12	11	8	11	11	12	11	12	11	13	13
Beijing BIT	1	4	8	11	12	12	11	10	9	8	11	11	10	11	10	12	13	13	13	14	15	14	14	12	11	12	11	14	14	14
Beijing Baxy	11	6	5	4	9	9	13	13	13	15	15	14	14	14	14	14	14	16	16	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	15	15	15
Hohhot Dongjin	11	11	12	13	15	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	15	16	16	16	16	15	15	16	13	15	13	15	15	15	15	16	16	16

	Winner; promote to Chinese Super League
	Runner-up; promote to Chinese Super League
	Relegate to China League Two

Updated to match(es) played on Oct. 28, 2012. Source: Table by round (in Chinese)

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Babacar Gueye	Shenzhen Ruby	23
2	Johnny Woodly	Fujian Smart Hero	21
3	Wu Lei	Shanghai East Asia	17
4	Chris Killen	Chongqing F.C.	16
5	Brendon Šantalab	Chongqing Lifan	14
	Guto	Chongqing Lifan	14
	José Duarte	Shenyang Shenbei	14
8	Vicente	Wuhan Zall	11
9	Ricardo Steer	Harbin Songbei Yiteng	10
	Bu Xin	Harbin Songbei Yiteng	10

League attendance

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Hohhot Dongjin	134,664	21,817	4,926	8,978	n/a†
2	Hunan Billows	104,554	22,316	1,510	6,970	n/a†
3	Wuhan Zall	100,522	12,987	3,153	6,701	n/a†
4	Shenzhen Ruby	96,721	9,574	3,275	6,448	n/a†
5	Yanbian Changbai Tiger	80,579	10,111	2,162	5,372	n/a†
6	Chongqing F.C.	70,177	16,158	1,980	4,678	n/a†
7	Fujian Smart Hero	62,136	8,321	866	4,142	n/a†
8	Chongqing Lifan	60,650	11,550	1,051	4,043	n/a†
9	Harbin Songbei Yiteng	60,037	5,103	1,180	4,002	n/a†
10	Shanghai East Asia	46,702	7,177	1,211	3,113	n/a†
11	Tianjin Songjiang	44,969	5,500	1,028	2,998	n/a†
12	Chengdu Tiancheng	30,391	5,052	820	2,026	n/a†
13	Beijing BIT	22,362	2,326	500	1,491	n/a†
14	Guangdong Sunray Cave	16,556	2,012	353	1,104	n/a†
15	Shenyang Shenbei	15,267	5,000	350	1,018	n/a†
16	Beijing Baxy	12,668	3,269	321	845	n/a†
	League total	958,955	22,316	321	3,996	n/a†

Updated to games played on Oct. 28th, 2012
Source: Chinese Football Data (in Chinese)